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Biomedical subjects

W Lowenstein

Publications and source records attributed to W Lowenstein.

52 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1989

[Surgical emergencies and pseudo-surgical syndromes in the course of acquired immunodeficiency syndromes in adults].

Numerous abdominal manifestations were noted among 600 patients undergoing treatment at Hospital Laennec for various stages of infection by the acquired immunodeficiency virus. These included violent abdominal pain in 30% of cases, the development of abdominal lymphoma, and occasionally alarming pseudo-surgical syndromes. Diagnosis is difficult, all the more so since authentic emergencies may be aggravated by the immunodeficiency state. 18 cases were collected in 3 years and included 6 cases of acute cholecystitis and 2 of appendicitis. The gangrenous and extensive nature of infection was generally noted and required appropriate antibiotic therapy.

Abdominal Pain↗
PubMed1989

[Determination of erythrocyte protoporphyrin by a spectrofluorometry method].

Erythrocyte protoporphyrin (EP) measurement is useful for the diagnosis of protoporphyrin, iron deficiency or lead poisoning. The authors described a manual procedure for the spectrofluorimetric determination of EP. Erythrocytes were used, instead of whole blood. The following steps were performed: treatment with celite suspension, extraction using ethylacetate/acetic acid, estimation of the fluorescence of protoporphyrin IX extracted in HCl. Analytical results are following: a low detection limit (0.045 mumol/l), a linear response up to 2 mumol/l, within run and day-to-day precision respectively better than 3.5 p. cent and 5.8 p. cent. The procedure with predilution led to no significant difference with the spectrophotometric reference method (student t-test, t: 0.85) up to 42 mumol/l. Concentrations of EP according to age were studied for children (0.0470-1.000 mumol/l), middle-aged subjects (0.390-0.880) and elderly subjects (0.340-1.040). The proposed method is accurate, rapid and available for routine measurements.

Adult↗
PubMed1988

Effects of cyclosporin on T-cell subsets in human immunodeficiency virus disease.

Cyclosporin (7.5 mg/kg daily) was given to 8 AIDS patients for 17-66 days and to 25 HIV-seropositive non-AIDS patients, 15 with stage II (T4 cells/microliter greater than or equal to 300, less than 600) and 10 with stage III (T4/microliter less than 300), for 3-6 months with the hypothesis that the drug could inhibit both HIV replication and the potential autoimmune component of HIV disease. A sustained increase over 600 T4/microliter occurred in 7 patients with stage II and 1 with stage III. T8 cells significantly decreased in most patients and lymphadenopathy disappeared in 14/16. After cyclosporin withdrawal T4 and T8 cells as well as lymphadenopathy returned to pretreatment status. Cyclosporin side effects (hypertension, creatinine increase, and anemia) were moderate and reversible. These results might stimulate biological research as well as clinical trials with cyclosporin in selected groups of HIV-seropositive subjects with the aim of delaying or preventing AIDS occurrence.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMed1988

[Cough provoked by angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors. Effect of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agents].

Cough is a well recognised though undesirable side effect during the course of treatment with angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors (IEC). With the help of two examples we have tried to show that this cough does not have an immunological origin but rather pharmacological. Cough was suppressed by non steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. Stemming from these observations and from two studies in the literature a patho-physiological mechanism for the cough is proposed in which treatment with IEC leads to a connection with prostaglandins, notably bronchial PGE2.

Aged↗
PubMed1986

[Evaluation of the prevalence of pathology of drug origin in a department of internal medicine].

The authors report the results of a one year study carried out in the Department of Internal Medicine at Laennec Hospital. Out of a total of 1334 hospitalisation, 95 had drug side effects (7.1 p. 100) and 3.5 p. 100 of admissions were directly related to a iatrogenic complication. These complications were more common in women and elderly patients. Sixty-two drugs were implicated: antibiotics (32.6 p. 100), cardiovascular drugs (20 p. 100) including the diuretics (8.4 p. 100), antiinflammatory and antalgic drugs (16.8 p. 100), anticoagulants (8.4 p. 100), neuropsychiatric drugs (7.4 p. 100), oral hypoglycaemic agents (6.3 p. 100)..., 101 side effects were observed: gastro-intestinal (35.6 p. 100) dermato-anaphylactic (19.8 p. 100), cardiovascular (12.9 p. 100), endocrine or metabolic (11.8 p. 100), neuropsychiatric (10.9 p. 100), haematological (5.9 p. 100) and renal (4.2 p. 100). Iatrogenic complications were responsible for the admission to hospital of 47 patients and for 390 days of hospitalisation, costing approximately 380.000 FF.

Drug-Related Side Effects and Adverse Reactions↗
PubMed1984

[Time of occurrence of primary ventricular tachycardia in the acute phase of myocardial infarction].

The hour of day of primary ventricular tachycardia (VT) in the acute phase of myocardial infarction was studied in 63 consecutive patients without cardiac failure or antiarrhythmic therapy, admitted to hospital less than 6 hours after the onset of chest pain. There were 19 women and 44 men, with an average age of 63 years. The site of infarction was anterior in 23 cases, posterior in 34 cases and circumferential in 6 cases. The cardiac rhythm was analysed from the 6th hour following the onset of chest pain for 4 days, using a HP 98220 A computerised analyser CPK levels were measured daily. Ventricular tachycardia occurred in 73% of cases with no significant difference between daytime (18 patients) and night time (28 patients). The patients developing VT did not differ from the remainder with respect to age, sex, or site of ECG changes, but peak CPK levels were significantly higher than in patients without VT. The risk of VT decreased slowly as the interval from the onset of chest pain increased and fell practically to zero after the 40th hour. Diurnal and nocturnal VT were independent of age, sex or site of infarct. However, nocturnal VT correlated independently of the time of onset of chest pain to high values of CPK. There was no difference with respect to age, sex, location of infarct or incidence of ventricular tachycardia between infarcts with pain starting during the day, and infarcts with pain starting at night. However, when the pain started during the day, the peak CPK was significantly higher and there were significantly more attacks of nocturnal ventricular tachycardia.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Retrospective study of 594 HIV-1 seropositive patients seen in 8 hospitals of western Paris].

This multicenter retrospective study concerns 594 cases of HIV-1 positive patients. The majority were asymptomatic. Some had Aids-related complex and some had AIDS. They were all seen in seven hospitals of the western outskirts of Paris and in one Paris hospital between 1983 and 1988. There was a predominance of homosexuals and of cases of AIDS in the center of Paris. Intravenous (IV) drug users and asymptomatic cases were more numerous in the city outskirts, a reflection of the populations at risk around each hospital. The proportion of cases of AIDS was lower among IV drug users than among homosexuals or bisexuals probably due to the fact that the viral infection was discovered at an earlier stage in a population contaminated at a later date or to the tendency to ask for the test "systematically" in drug addicts. 22% of the cases were women with a sex ratio of 3.5. HIV infection was attributed to use of intravenous drugs in 51% and to heterosexual transmission in 18% of the women. But the incidence of heterosexual transmission increased significantly, essentially in women. Overall, the incidence of infection by the HIV 1 has decreased since 1986. A number of recent publications seem to indicate the same tendency. But this fundamental observation remains to be validated by further studies. The yearly incidence of AIDS increases. The 5 year calculated actuarial rate of probability of remaining asymptomatic decreased to 40% in 385 initially asymptomatic patients.

Adult↗